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Head coach Lisa Stone and the Wisconsin Badgers have talked the entire season about how important a complete team effort is to their success. In Tuesday’s game against UW-Milwaukee, their mantra proved true as the Badgers’ bench outscored the starters 39-32.

Leading the way off the bench was junior forward Mariah Dunham with a team-high 16 points, who also made a crucial 3-pointer with just 1:30 left in regulation to give the Badgers the lead.

“Thankfully, we were able to go to our bench,” Stone said. “If you look at the bench scoring we got 39 points off the bench, and that’s pretty special.”

Dunham has played well in the Badgers’ past few games as she returns from a back injury that kept her out of the first two games of the season. With the opportunity to watch the team play for two games and now play with her teammates, she sees how important a complete team effort is to the Badgers’ success.

“[My] back is actually doing really, really well. It doesn’t bother me at all,” Dunham said. “Emotionally, I’m just really, really proud of the team. I’ve never been on a team that’s focused so much on the team. It doesn’t matter who starts … as long as we got the win.”

As the Wisconsin offense stalled in the second half with the pressure defense from UW-Milwaukee, Dunham was able to come in off the bench and make some shots to get the Badgers rolling.

“Mariah gave us a lift,” Stone said. “Their zone made us sputter, but I thought Mariah was effective, not only from the three, but also slashing into the middle and getting on the offensive boards for us.”

Also making a big impact off the bench for UW was freshman guard Jade Davis. In the midst of a first half scoring drought for Wisconsin, Davis sparked the Badger offense, hitting a pair of 3-pointers and going 2-for-2 from the charity stripe to help the Badgers take a 29-18 lead into halftime.

“Jade’s couple of threes in the first half opened it up for us,” Stone said. “We were getting shots off, but they [were] not going in, and Jade knocks down a couple of threes.”

Davis finished the game with 10 points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field. She also recorded two rebounds, two assists and two steals in 32 minutes of play off the bench.

Panthers steal momentum in second half with defensive change

Despite leading by as many as 16 points with just 11:15 left in the second half, the Wisconsin Badgers just couldn’t seem to put UW-Milwaukee away. The Badgers let the Panthers steal the momentum and send the game to not one, but two overtimes and leaving the Panthers with an opportunity to win the game at the buzzer.

The biggest problem for Wisconsin was the defensive change UW-Milwaukee made after the second media timeout of the second half. As the Panthers turned up the pressure on the Badgers, the game’s momentum shifted and the Panthers seized the opportunity.

“I felt like we just got Wisconsin off the rhythm that they were in,” UWM head coach Sandy Botham said. “That zone really was effective. Basketball is all about momentum, [and] we were able to get the momentum back on our side.”

The Badgers were caught off guard by the defensive change, leading to turnovers and missed shots offensively, which in turn led to Panther scoring opportunities.

“I think it was a good move on their part to switch up their defense,” junior guard Rae Lin D’Alie said. “They kind of threw it at us, and I think we just kind of sputtered with it.”

Compounding the Badgers’ troubles against the Panthers’ zone and three-quarter court trap was early foul trouble in the second half. Before reaching the second media timeout, Wisconsin had already reached the penalty, giving UW-Milwaukee the opportunity to shoot free throws on every foul the rest of the way.

The Panthers made the most of it, shooting 11-for-16 from the line in the second half and overtime.

“Our players really fought and put themselves in a position to beat the Badgers on their home court,” Botham said.

Despite letting the Panthers take control of the game with pressure defense and strong shooting — UWM shot 54.2 percent from the field in the second half — the Badgers battled back and found a way to deal with the change in defensive pressure.

“After a while we found where the open shot was,” D’Alie said. “Most likely, on the two-on-one side, if you could get the ball in the corner you’d have an open jumper. I think, after a while, we found out how to work it.”